Challenges of seeking Multi-Site NHS R&D approval - the reality!

Introduction

Hi fellow research bloggers - welcome to this Post. If you are novice researchers as I am, then come and take a walk on the wild side!!! As a novice researcher I have dipped my toe into research but not just any old research, no! I am heading up a Collaborative research study with 2 other universities. That is not however enough! Just to make things harder for myself, I have started a Collaborative project that also entails accessing 20 NHS Trust sites within my area. As a consequence, I thought gaining Ethical Approval was complex enough using the Integrated Research Application System (IRAS), however, moving onto the next stage has proved particularly challenging!...... the completion of Site Specific Information forms (SSI's)!!! Hence this Blog! I will be posting my experiences on a regular basis, updating you as I go along. If you are embarking upon or are already in the middle of seeking Research & Development approval for your research project then leave a post and we can share experiences.

Given that I am 9 months into the Research Journey. Here's the story so far.....

The research is part funded by the Centre for Excellence in Professional Placement Learning (CEPPL) check out the project details on the Centre's webpage:

http://www.placementlearning.org/Project.cfm?id=73

Challenge Number 1 - Research Passport

So far it has taken 6 weeks, one CRB clearance and numerous emails to elicit if a Research Passport is required. I stumbled upon the form via a Google search - saved it filled it in, got HR to complete a CRB check only to find the wrong passport form had been used,.....aaaargh, it was 3 months out of date.

Challenge Number 2 - IRAS and SSI's

Following informative discussion from 3 or 4 R&D co-ordinators, it transpires that each Trust requires an individual, unique SSI number, so last week - 8 hours were spent on the IRAS website completing the forms online. Whilst the actual inputting of information is a cut and paste jobbie, once you've set the first one up, within Manchester we have "affiliations", "groups" and "partnerships" where a few R&D Co-ordinators have got together to make the application process less arduous. However, you have to find these yourself using Google search. Thank God Google is sooooooo informative as she has entered the inner sanctum of my friendship circle. NB Given that nursing is predominantly a female profession, google shall take the "she" form for this blog unless anyone has any strong objections. Eventally, I found all the necessary contacts - hit TRANSFER SSI button on the IRAS website.............. and we all await the next installment of the blog.......till next time.

Funding for research

So, the speculation is that the UK government will now only fund academic research that has demonstrable ecomonic benefit. The UK government is to stop funding "pointless" university research, forcing academics to prove that their academic inquiry has some relevance to the real world. This fills me with dread for where does this leave nurisng research? The kind of research carried out by most nursing departments shows, at best, some small clinical benefit to patients but since when have sucessive UK governments ever seen this a a prime motivating force for the funding of research? How is making some one feel more comfortable econimically viable?

In the last Research Assesment Exercise in the UK, nursing did quite well, nurse academics felt optimisitic and hopeful about the future of research in the UK  - and now this! No more researching for the pure fun of finding something out, no more investagtions focussing upon rare or unusal clincial situations or conditions - no , not ecomincaly viable my friends. As David Mitchell pointed out far more wittily than I could, presumably because he is not so choked with rage as me, so many useful things have been discovered just by someone messing about with an idea - not just amazing things like peanut butter and banana sandwiches and those gel things you put in your high heels to make them more comfortable but some quite useful stuff like Scotchguard, Pencillin and Viagra. So, it seems that just when nursing research finally got invited to the academic party all that was left for it to do was the washing up.

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